Comments

Revised Common Lectionary Commentary

Clippings:
Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost - November 6, 2016

Saint Dominiccontemplating the Scriptures

Author's note:Sometimes I have material left over when I edit Comments down to
fit the available space. This page presents notes that landed on the clipping
room floor. Some may be useful to you. While I avoid technical language
in the Comments (or explain special terms), Clippings may have unexplained
jargon from time to time.

A hypertext Glossary of Terms is integrated with Clippings. Simply
click on any highlighted word in the text and a pop-up window will appear
with a definition. Bibliographic references are also integrated in the
same way.

Haggai 2:1-9

The Revised Common Lectionary gives the reading as
1:15b-2:9; however, this appears to be an error.

1:1: “the second year”: mid-August to mid-September 520 BC.
[
NOAB]
NJBC says that the date is August 29, 520.

1:1: “Haggai”: The word means festal. [
NOAB] Ezra
5:1-2 says that Haggai and Zechariah prophesied, and that Zerubbabel and Joshua
set out to rebuild the Temple with the help of the prophets. Ezra
6:14 says that the Jews prospered “through the prophesying of the prophets
Haggai and Zechariah”.

1:1: “Zerubbabel”: The name is Babylonian, meaning offspring
of Babylon. He was son of one of Jehoiachin's sons: either of Pedaiah (see 1
Chronicles
3:17-19) or of “Shealtiel” (as here and in Ezra
3:2). [
HBD] He was a royal descendant from David, so continuity in leadership with the
pre-exilic community is maintained (see also Clipping on “Joshua”).
Zerubbabel’s return from exile is mentioned in Ezra
2:1-2. [
CAB] He is also mentioned in Ezra
3:8;
4:2-3;
5:2; Nehemiah
7:6-7;
12:1,
47; Haggai
2:21,
23; Zechariah
4:6-7,
9-10; Matthew
1:12-13 (the genealogy of Jesus); Luke
3:27.

1:1: “Shealtiel”: He was taken with his family to Babylon
in 597 BC: see 2 Kings
24:12. He was of Davidic lineage. [
NJBC]

1:1: “governor”: The Hebrew word only indicates that he was
some kind of administrative officer. [
NJBC]

1:1: “Joshua”: He was also descended from David. [
NOAB] 2 Kings
25:18-21 tells us that Seraiah was the last chief priest before the Exile. Per
1 Chronicles
6:12-15 “Joshua” was a grandson of Seraiah. Both he and Zerubbabel
came from Babylon. There is no evidence that Haggai also did. [
NJBC]

1:2: “rebuild the Lord
’s house”: The Temple built in Solomon’s time was plundered and
destroyed in 587 BC: see 2 Kings
25:8-17. [
NOAB]

1:6: Because armies lived off the land, the passage of the Persian army
through Judah to conquer Egypt probably contributed to the shortage of food.

1:6: “a bag with holes”: Possibly the first biblical reference
to coins. Coinage was practised in Asia Minor in the 600s BC. It spread through the
ancient Near East due to Persian influence.

1:8: “hills”: At the time, the hills were still covered with
trees. As Nehemiah prepares to move back to Judah, he asks King Artaxerxes for “a
letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, directing him to give me timber
to make beams for the gates of the temple fortress, and for the wall of the city,
and for the house that I shall occupy” (see Nehemiah
2:8). See also Nehemiah
2:8;
8:15. Note that there is no mention of cutting stones for the new Temple. The
city was probably filled with the stone remains of Solomon’s Temple.

1:12: “the remnant of the people”: In Jeremiah
23:3 and
31:7 this term refers to those who were deported, but here it probably includes
those who stayed in Judah, because any old enough to have seen Solomon’s Temple
would be too old to make the trek back from Babylon: see
2:3. [
NJBC]

1:14: “worked”: or set to work. They began on September
21, 520, only three weeks after the oracle of rebuke and calling; however, this date
may well have been that of the oracle of
2:15-19 which was probably between
1:15 and
2:1. (Dates usually precede oracles in Haggai.) [
NJBC]

2:1-9: Encouragement about the future splendour of the Temple. As construction
begins, those who had seen the glory of the earlier Temple seem to be disappointed
with the modest new beginnings, but are assured that the gifts that will come from
all over creation and from “all the nations” (v.
7) will result in a temple that will surpass in beauty that of Solomon. [
CAB]

2:3: “glory”: The Hebrew word is kabod. It can mean
splendour or riches (as in Isaiah
10:3;
61:6;
66:11-12) but can also mean glory in relation to the Temple. Here it suggests
the glory through which God in his transcendence dwells in the Temple, the glory
that the visionary Ezekiel saw returning to the post-exilic Temple: see Ezekiel
43:1-4. See also v.
9. [
NJBC]

2:4: The words of this verse are very like those addressed to Joshua son
of Nun: see Joshua
1:6-7,
9,
18. [
JBC]

2:6-7: A poetic expression of divine intervention in the functioning of
the universe. [
NJBC] Vv.
21-22 says “... I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, and to overthrow
the throne of kingdoms; I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the
nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders; and the horses and their riders
shall fall, every one by the sword of a comrade. On that day ...”

2:7: “the treasure of all nations shall come”: Isaiah
60:6 foretells: “A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels
of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord
”. See also Isaiah
61:6. [
NOAB]

Verse 3: From a time before Israel was strictly monotheistic,
96:4 says “For great is the Lord
, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods”.

Verses 8-9: Exodus
34:6 speaks of
Yahweh as “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in
steadfast love and faithfulness”. Psalms
86:15 and
103:8 also speak of him in these terms. [
NJBC] See also Numbers
14:18. [
CAB]

Verses 20-21: Psalm
1:5-6 is similar: “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the
Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will
perish”. [
NJBC]

Verses 2-3: A call to God’s people to praise him for his saving
deeds to Israel, for God’s triumph over all the powers that oppose him. The
verbs are in the past tense, but the reference is to a future event. [
NOAB]

Verse 3: “remembered ... house of Israel”: i.e. God’s
covenant commitment. “Remembered”: as in Exodus
20:24: “in every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come
to you and bless you”.

Verses 4-9:
96:7-13 also summons all nations and the physical universe to join in praising
God. [
NOAB]

Verses 4-5: All nations: come to Jerusalem to worship
Yahweh! See also Isaiah
2:1-4. [
NJBC]

Verse 5: “with the lyre and the sound of melody”: The inclusion
of musical instruments shows that the setting of the psalm is the Temple. [
NJBC]

Verse 6: “before”: i.e. in the presence of.

Verses 7-8: The alternation of watery and dry places emphasizes that all
creation should join in the chorus of joy. [
NJBC]

Verse 9: Israel’s missionary outlook, though never a major
motif in the Old Testament, saw nations coming to Zion to worship God. Isaiah
2:1-4 says “... In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall
be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, "Come, let us
go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk
in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the
Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate
for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more.”. [
NJBC]

While Comments takes the position, with
CAB and
NJBC, that Paul did not write 2 Thessalonians, some scholars insist that he was
the author. Perhaps he wrote the early part of Chapter
1.

In the early days of the Church, many expected Christ to come again in their
own lifetimes. Jesus’ words found in the gospels can be read this way, but
other interpretations were and are possible (and likely).

Verse 1: Paul says in 1 Thessalonians
4:13-17: “But we do not want you to be uninformed ... about those who have
died ... through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. ... we who are
alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those
who have died. For the Lord himself ... will descend from heaven, and the dead in
Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in
the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with
the Lord forever”.

Verse 2: “not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed”:
NJBC offers not suddenly to be shaken from your wits or be upset.

Verse 2: “spirit”: See also 1 Corinthians
14:12,
32 (“the spirits of prophets”); 1 John
4:1-3 (“do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether
they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world”);
1 Thessalonians
5:19-20. [
CAB]

Verse 2: “that the day of the Lord is already here”: Ideas
about when the return of Christ and the consequent resurrection of the dead would
happen, in the future or already in the present, evidently circulated in the Church.
In 2 Timothy
2:18, false teachers claim that the resurrection has already happened. [
CAB]

Verses 3-4: See also Daniel
9:20-27 (70 weeks of years);
11:31;
12:11; Matthew
24; Mark
13 (the Little
Apocalypse); Luke
21:5-36. In Mark
13:14, Jesus says: “‘But when you see the desolating sacrilege set
up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must
flee to the mountains’”. [
NOAB]

Verse 3: “that day”: In 1 Thessalonians
5:2, Paul says “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night”.
[
CAB] 2 Peter
3:10 says “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the
heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with
fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed”. [
NOAB]

Verse 3: “the rebellion”:
Inter-testamental Jewish
apocryphal literature (e.g. Jubilees 23:14-23) uses this word to refer to the general revolt
of Israel against God’s law. The Protestant Reformers saw the lawless one as
the Pope.
Premillenialists down through the years have identified the lawless one with
the political or religious opponent of the moment.

Historical-critical study of this passage, however, insists that it be read together
with all
apocalyptic literature. It should be regarded as a distinctive theological interpretation
of God, the cosmos, and Christ. This makes it unnecessary to ask whether the author
meant the restrainer (“the lawless one”) to be the Roman Empire, as many
think – or even Paul's mission to the Gentiles, as a few hold.

This passage is not an
apocalyptic allegory of a historical moment in the life of Paul or the early
church. Rather it is a theological interpretation of the problem of history seen
in the light of Christ's lordship and the oneness of God. [
ICCTh]

Verse 3: “the lawless one”: The
Septuagint translation of the Old Testament has the Greek word used here, along
with the word for rebellion to translate the Hebrew word Belial, a
figure associated with the forces of darkness and often the name for the Devil. In
the
Qumran literature, Beliar is the chief of the powers of darkness; he is
mentioned in 2 Corinthians
6:15. Note v.
9: “The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan”.
[
CAB] 2 Esdras says that the evil in the world will become very widespread as
the end times approach.

Verse 3: “the one destined for destruction”: See Revelation
20:7-10: “... When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released
from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations ... the devil who had deceived
them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur ...”. That the Devil will
be destroyed after being allowed free rein for a period is found in various
apocalyptic writings. [
CAB]

Verse 4:
Apocalyptic texts tell of a period before the God’s final victory when
demonic forces will attempt to usurp God’s authority. The godly will resist
that attempt and be vindicated. [
CAB]

Verse 4: There are allusions here to the times of Antiochus IV Epiphanes
(175-164 BC), who desecrated the Temple and set up a statue of himself (as Olympian
Zeus) in the Temple. See 1 Maccabees
2:15 and Daniel
9:14. This verse leaves unstated that the Day of the Lord is not at hand.
[
NJBC]

Verse 5:
NJBC sees “these things” to be basic Christian instruction: not details
of a given
apocalyptic scenario, but a warning of what the faithful must be prepared to
face, especially the threat to their faith. See also Mark
13 (the little apocalypse); Matthew
24-25; Luke
21:5-36.

Verses 6-7: The author speaks of both the then-current threat, a false
prophet in the midst of the Thessalonian church, and the future appearance of many
false prophets before the elimination of evil forces in the world.

Verse 6:
NJBC offers a rather different translation: You know the seizing power, so
that the rebel himself will be manifested at his own proper time. He says that
the Greek word he translates as seizing power means possessing and
holding fast but not restraining. He sees the current power as being
(close to) manic possession by a kind of demon or spirit which has shaken the readers
out of their wits: see v.
2 (as he translates it).

Verse 6: “you know what is now restraining him”: The first
readers of this letter knew (i.e. experienced) what was “restraining him”,
we do not. There are three main conjectures, none of which is entirely satisfactory:

Verse 7: “the mystery of lawlessness”: The counterfeit and
opponent of the mystery of godliness. Colossians
1:26 speaks of “ the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and
generations but has now been revealed to his saints”. See also 1 Timothy
3:16. [
NOAB] For “lawlessness”,
NJBC offers rebellion.

Verse 7: “is ... at work”: The Greek word, energeia
, meaning is active, also occurs in v.
9 (“working”) and v.
11 (“powerful”). The present threat to stability in faith is a foretaste
of the much worse future one, which the Lord will triumphantly resolve.

Verse 7: “but only until the one who now restrains it is removed”:
NJBC offers but the seizer must be for the present, until ousted. The
seizer must be (or try to) seize, possess, for the present until he is put out of
the way (or otherwise disappears).

Verse 8c: Christ will eliminate the lawless one by coming again.

Verse 8: “breath of his mouth”: Isaiah
11:1-4 says “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse [whom we believe
to be Jesus] ... with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity
for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and
with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked”. See also Job
4:9 and Revelation
19:15. [
CAB]

Verse 9: “power, signs, lying wonders”: In Mark
13:22, Jesus says “‘False messiahs and false prophets will appear
and produce signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, the elect”. Matthew
24:24 is very similar. See also Acts
2:22 (Peter’s speech on the Day of Pentecost). [
CAB]

Verse 13: “chose you as the first fruits”:
NJBC says that called from the beginning (offered in a footnote in the
NRSV and found in various manuscripts) is preferable. It stresses God’s initiative
in calling us.

Verse 13: “first fruits”: James
1:18 says “In fulfilment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word
of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures”.
See also Revelation
14:4. [
CAB]

Verse 13: “sanctification”: The process of becoming holy,
set apart for God. See also 1 Thessalonians
4:3. [
CAB]

Verse 14: “he called you”: The notion of God calling those
whom he chooses is also found in 1 Thessalonians
2:12;
4:7;
5:24. [
CAB]

Verse 27: Acts
4:1-2 tells us “While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests,
the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they
were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection
of the dead.”. [
NOAB] In Acts
23:6-10, Paul says, at his trial before the Sanhedrin, that Jesus’ teaching
in the Temple was in continuity with that of the Pharisees. They did believe in life
after death. [
NJBC]

Verse 28: Deuteronomy
25:5-6 commands regarding levirate marriage: “When brothers reside together,
and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married
outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her, taking
her in marriage, and performing the duty of a husband's brother to her, and the firstborn
whom she bears shall succeed to the name of the deceased brother, so that his name
may not be blotted out of Israel”. For examples of levirate marriage, see Genesis
38:8. [
NOAB]

Verse 35: Jesus seems to imply that only the dead who are godly will be
resurrected. [
BlkLk]

Verse 36: “angels”: The Sadducees did not believe in angels.
Jesus makes the risen godly equivalent to the heavenly beings who wait upon God.
Acts
6:15 tells us that the members of the council “saw that his [Stephen’s]
face was like the face of an angel”. See also Matthew
18:10.

Verse 38: “for to him all of them are alive”: For a very close
parallel to this expression, see 4 Maccabees
7:19. [
NJBC] 4 Maccabees
16:25 says “They knew also that those who die for the sake of God live
to God, as do Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs”. [
BlkLk]

Verse 39: In Mark
12:28, a scribe also commends Jesus for his answer. [
NOAB] Scribes were official interpreters of the Law. [
CAB]

Verse 40: Mark
12:34 says that “After that no one dared to ask him any question”.
Matthew
22:46 is similar. [
NOAB]